From the
life of the saint, compiled from his writings by Dom. Marand, the learned and
judicious editor of St. Justin's works, printed at Paris in 1742; and at Venice
in 1747. Also from Tatian, Eusebius, and the original short acts of his
martyrdom, in Ruinart. On his writings, see Dom. Nourry, Apparatus in Bibl. Patr.
Ceillier and Marechal, Concordance des Peres, t 1.

St. Justin was born at Neapolis, now Naplosa, the ancient Sichem, and
formerly the capital of the province of Samaria. Vespasian, having endowed its
inhabitants with the privileges belonging to Roman citizens, gave it the name of
Flavia. His son Titus sent thither a colony of Greeks, among whom were the
father and grandfather of our saint. His father, a heathen, brought him up in
the errors and superstitions of paganism, but at the same time did not neglect
to cultivate his mind by several branches of human literature.

St. Justin accordingly informs us,1 that he spent his youth in reading the
poets, orators, and historians. Having gone through the usual course of these
studies, he gave himself up to that of philosophy in quest of truth, an ardent
love of which was his predominant passion. He addressed himself first to a
master who was a Stoic; and after having stayed some time with him, seeing he
could learn nothing of him concerning God, he left him, and went to a
Peripatetic, a very subtle man in his own conceit: but Justin, being desired the
second day after admission, to fix his master's salary, that he might know what
he was to be allowed for his pains in teaching him, he left him also, concluding
that he was no philosopher. He then tried a Pythagorean, who had a great
reputation, and who boasted much of his wisdom; but he required of his scholar,
as a necessary preliminary to his admission, that he should have learned music,
astronomy, and geometry. Justin could not bear such delays in the search of God,
and preferred the school of an Academic, under whom he made great progress in
the Platonic philosophy, and vainly flattered himself with the hope of arriving
in a short time at the sight of God, which the Platonic philosophy seemed to
have had chiefly in view.

Walking one day by the sea-side, for the advantage of a greater freedom from
noise and tumult, he saw, as he turned about, an old man who followed him pretty
close. His appearance was majestic, and had a great mixture in it of mildness
and gravity. Justin looking on him very attentively, the man asked him if he
knew him. Justin answered in the negative. "Why then," said he,
"do you lock so steadfastly upon me?" Justin replied: "It is the
effect of my surprise to meet any human creature in this remote and solitary
place." "What brought me hither," said that old man, "was my
concern for some of my friends. They are gone a journey, and I am come hither to
look out for them." They then fell into a long discourse concerning the
excellency of philosophy in general, and of the Platonic in particular, which
Justin asserted to be the only true way to happiness, and of knowing and seeing
God. This the grave person refuted at large, and at length by the force of his
arguments convinced him that those philosophers whom he had the greatest esteem
for, Plato and Pythagoras, had been mistaken in their principles, and had not a
thorough knowledge of God and of the soul of man, nor could they in consequence
communicate it to others. This drew from him the important query, Who were the
likeliest persons to set him in the right way? The stranger answered, that long
before the existence of these reputed philosophers, there were certain blessed
men, lovers of God, and divinely inspired, called prophets, on account of their
foretelling things which have since come to pass; whose books, yet extant,
contain many solid instructions about the first cause and end of all things, and
many other particulars becoming a philosopher to know. That their miracles and
their predictions had procured them such credit, that they established truth by
authority, and not by disputes and elaborate demonstrations of human reason, of
which few men are capable. That they inculcated the belief of one only God, the
Father and author of all things, and of his Son Jesus Christ, whom he had sent
into the world. He concluded his discourse with this advice: "As for
thyself, above all things, pray that the gates of life may be opened unto thee:
for these are not things to be discerned, unless God and Christ grant to a man
the knowledge of them." After these words he departed, and Justin saw him
no more: but his conversation left a deep impression on the young philosopher's
soul, and kindled there an ardent affection for these true philosophers, the
prophets. And upon a further inquiry into the credibility of the Christian
religion, he embraced it soon after. What had also no small weight in persuading
him of the truth of the Christian faith, was the innocence and true virtue of
its professors; seeing with what courage and constancy, rather than to betray
their religion, or commit the least sin, they suffered the sharpest tortures,
and encountered, nay, even courted death itself, in its most horrible shapes.
"When I heard the Christians traduced and reproached," says he,
"yet saw them fearless and rushing on death, and on all things that are
accounted most dreadful to human nature, I concluded with myself that it was
impossible those men should wallow in vice, and be carried away with the love of
lust and pleasure."2 Justin, by the course of his studies, must have been
grown up when he was converted to the faith. Tillemont and Marand understand, by
an obscure passage in St. Epiphanius,3 that he was in the thirtieth year of his
age.

St. Justin, after he became a Christian, continued to wear the pallium, or
cloak, as Eusebius and St. Jerome inform us, which was the singular badge of a
philosopher. Aristides, the Athenian philosopher and a Christian, did the same;
so did Heraclas, even when he was bishop of Alexandria. St. Epiphanius calls St.
Justin a great ascetic, or one who professed a most austere and holy life. He
came to Rome soon after his conversion, probably from Egypt. Tillemont and Dom.
Marand think that he was a priest, from his description of baptism, and the
account he gave at his trial of people resorting to his house for instruction.
This, however, is uncertain; and Ceillier concludes, from the silence of the
ancients on this head, that he was always a layman: but he seems to have
preached, and therefore to have been at least deacon. His discourse, or oration
to the Greeks,4 he wrote soon after his conversion, in order to convince the
heathens of the reasonableness of his having deserted paganism. He urges the
absurdity of idolatry, and the inconsistency of ascribing lewdness and other
crimes to their deities: on the other hand, he declares his admiration of, and
reverence for, the purity and sanctity of the Christian doctrine, and the awful
majesty of the divine writings which still the passions, and fix in a happy
tranquillity the mind of man, which finds itself everywhere else restless. His
second work is called his Paraenesis, or Exhortation to the Greeks, which he
drew up at Rome: in this he employs the flowers of eloquence, which even in his
apologies he despises. In it he shows the errors of idolatry, and the vanity of
the heathen philosophers; reproaches Plato with making an harangue to the
Athenians, in which he pretended to establish a multitude of gods, only to
escape the fate of Socrates; while it is clear, from his writings, that he
believed one only God. He transcribes the words of Orpheus the Sibyl, Homer,
Sophocles, Pythagoras, Plato, Mercury, and Acmon, or rather Ammon, in which they
profess the unity of the Deity. He wrote his book on Monarchy,5 expressly to
prove the unity of God, from the testimonies and reasons of the heathen
philosophers themselves. The epistle to Diognetus is an incomparable work of
primitive antiquity, attributed to St. Justin by all the ancient copies, and
doubtless genuine, as Dr. Cave, Ceillier, Marand, &c., show; though the
style is more elegant and florid than the other works of this father. Indeed it
is not mentioned by Eusebius and St. Jerome; but neither do they mention the
works of Athenagoras. And what wonder that, the art of printing not being as yet
discovered, some writings should have escaped their notice? Tillemont fancies
the author of this piece to be more ancient, because he calls himself a disciple
of the apostles: but St. Justin might assume that title, who lived contemporary
with St. Polycarp, and others, who had seen some of them. This Diognetus was a
learned philosopher, a person of great rank, and preceptor to the emperor Marcus
Aurelius, who always consulted and exceedingly honored him. Dom. Nourry6
mistakes grossly, when he calls him a Jew: for in this very epistle is he styled
an adorer of gods. This great man was desirous to know upon what assurances the
Christians despised the world, and even torments and death, and showed to one
another a mutual love, which appeared wonderful to the rest of mankind, for it
rendered them seemingly insensible to the greatest injuries. St. Justin, to
satisfy him, demonstrates the folly of idolatry, and the imperfection of the
Jewish worship and sets forth the sanctity practiced by the Christians,
especially their humility, meekness, love of those who hate them without so much
as knowing any reason of their hatred, &c. He adds, that their numbers and
virtue are increased by tortures and massacres, and explains clearly the
divinity of Christ,7 the maker of all things, and Son of God. He shows that by
reason alone we could never attain to the true knowledge of God, who sent his
Son to teach us his holy mysteries; and, when we deserved only chastisement, to
pay the full price of our redemption;-the holy One to suffer for sinners,-the
person offended for the offenders; and when no other means could satisfy for our
crimes, we were covered under the wings of justice itself, and rescued from
slavery. He extols exceedingly the immense goodness and love of God for man, in
creating him, and the world for his use; in subjecting to him other things, and
in sending his only-begotten Son with the promise of his kingdom, to those who
shall have loved him. "But after you shall have known him," says he,
"with what inexpressible joy do you think you will be filled! How ardently
will you love him who first loved you! And when you shall love him, you will be
an imitator of his goodness. He who bears the burdens of others, assists all,
humbles himself to all, even to his inferiors, and supplies the wants of the
poor with what he has received from God, is truly the imitator of God. Then will
you see on earth that God governs the world; you will know his mysteries, and
will love and admire those who suffer for him: you will condemn the imposture of
the world, and despise death, only fearing eternal death, in never-ending fire.
When you know that fire, you will call those blessed who here suffer flames for
justice. I speak not of things to which I am a stranger, but having been a
disciple of the apostles, I am a teacher of nations, &c."

St. Justin made a long stay in Rome, dwelling near the Timothin baths, on the
Viminal hill. The Christians met in his house to perform their devotions, and he
applied himself with great zeal to the instruction of all those who resorted to
him. Evelpistus, who suffered with him, owned at his examination that he had
heard with pleasure Justin's discourses. The judge was acquainted with his zeal,
when he asked him, in what place he assembled his disciples. Not content with
laboring in the conversion of Jews and Gentiles, he exerted his endeavors in
defending the Catholic faith against all the heresies of that age. His excellent
volumes against Marcion, as they are styled by St. Jerome, are now lost, with
several other works commended by the ancients. The martyr, after his first
Apology, left Rome, and probably performed the functions of an evangelist, in
many countries, for several years. In the reign of Antoninus Pius, being at
Ephesus, and casually meeting, in the walks of Xistus, Tryphon, whom Eusebius
calls the most celebrated Jew of that age, and who was a famous philosopher, he
fell into discourse with him, which brought on a disputation, which was held in
the presence of several witnesses during two entire days. St. Justin afterwards
committed to writing this dialogue with Tryphon, which work is a simple
narrative of a familiar unstudied conversation. Tryphon, seeing Justin in the
philosopher's cloak, addressed him on the excellency of philosophy. The saint
answered, that he admired he should not rather study Moses and the prophets, in
comparison of whom all the writings of the philosophers are empty jargon and
foolish dreams. Then, in the first part of his dialogue, he showed, that,
according to the prophets, the old law was temporary, and to be abolished by the
new: and in the second, that Christ was God before all ages, distinct from the
Father,-the same that appeared to Abraham, Moses, &c., the same that created
man, and was himself made man, and crucified. He insists much on that passage,
Behold, a virgin shall conceive.8 From the beginning of the conversation,
Tryphon had allowed that from the prophets it was clear that Christ must be then
come; but he said, that he had not yet manifested himself to the world. So
evident was it that the time of his coming must be then elapsed, that no Jew
durst deny it, as Fleury observes.9 From the Apocalypse and Isaiah, by a
mistaken interpretation, Justin inferred the futurity of the Millennium, or of
Christ's reign upon earth for a thousand years, before the day of judgment, with
his elect, in spiritual, chaste delights: but adds, that this was not admitted
by many true orthodox believers.10 This point was afterwards cleared up, and
that mistake of some few corrected and exploded, by consulting the tradition of
the whole church. In the third part, St. Justin proves the vocation of the
Gentiles, and the establishment of the church. Night putting an end to the
conversation, Tryphon thanked Justin, and prayed for his happy voyage: for he
was going to sea. By some mistakes made by St. Justin in the etymologies, or
derivation of certain Hebrew names, it appears that he was a stranger to that
language. The Socinians dread the authority of this work, on account of the
clear proofs which it furnishes of the divinity of Christ. St. Justin
testifies11 that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, of curing the sick, and
casting out devils in the name of Christ, were then frequent in the church. He
excludes from salvation wilful heretics no less than infidels.

But the Apologies of this martyr have chiefly rendered his name illustrious.
The first or greater, (which by the first editors was, through mistake, placed
and called the second,) he addressed to the emperor Antoninus Pius, his two
adopted sons, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Commodus, and the senate, about the
year 150. That mild emperor had published no edicts against the Christians; but,
by virtue of former edicts, they were often persecuted by the governors, and
were everywhere traduced as a wicked and barbarous set of people, enemies to
their very species. They were deemed atheists; they were accused of practicing
secret lewdness, which slander seems to have been founded on the secrecy of
their mysteries, and partly on the filthy abominations of the Gnostic and
Carpocratian heretics: they were said in their sacred assemblies to feed on the
flesh of a murdered child; to which calumny a false notion of the blessed
eucharist might give birth. Celsus and other heathens add,12 that they adored
the cross, and the head of an ass. The story of the ass's head was a groundless
calumny, forged by a Jew, who pretended to have seen their mysteries, which was
readily believed and propagated by those whose interest it was to decry the
Christian religion, as Eusebius,13 St. Justin, Origen, and Tertullian relate.
The respect shown to the sign of the cross, mentioned by Tertullian and all the
ancient fathers, seems ground enough for the other slander. These calumnies were
advanced with such confidence, and, through passion and prejudice, received so
eagerly, that they served for a presence to justify the cruelty of the
persecutors, and to render the very name of a Christian odious. These
circumstances stirred up the zeal of St. Justin to present his apology for the
faith in writing, begging that the same might be made public. In it he boldly
declares himself a Christian, and an advocate for his religion: he shows that
Christians ought not to be condemned barely for the name of Christian, unless
convicted of some crime; that they are not atheists, though they adore not
idols; for they adore God the Father, his Son, and the Holy Ghost,14 and the
host of good angels. He exhorts the emperor to hold the balance even, in the
execution of justice; and sets forth the sanctity of the doctrine and manners of
Christians, who fly all oaths, abhor the least impurity, despise riches, are
patient and meek, love even enemies, readily pay all taxes, and scrupulously and
respectfully obey and honor princes, &c. Far from eating children, they even
condemned those that exposed them. He proves their regard for purity from the
numbers among them of both sexes who had observed strict chastity to an advanced
age. He explains the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the flesh,
and shows from the ancient prophets that God was to become man, and that they
had foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, the vocation of the Gentiles, &c.
He mentions a statue erected in Rome to Simon Magus, which is also testified by
Tertullian, Saint Austin, Theodoret, &c.15 The necessity of vindicating our
faith from slanders, obliged him, contrary to the custom of the primitive
church, to describe the sacraments of baptism and the blessed eucharist,
mentioning the latter also as a sacrifice. "No one," says he,16
"is allowed to partake of this food but he that believes our doctrines to
be true, and who has been baptized in the laver of regeneration for remission of
sins, and lives up to what Christ has taught. For we take not these as common
bread and common drink; but like as Jesus Christ our Saviour, being incarnate by
the word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation; so are we taught
that this food, by which our flesh and blood are nourished, over which thanks
have been given by the prayers in his own words, is the flesh and blood of the
incarnate Jesus." He describes the manner of sanctifying the Sunday, by
meeting to celebrate the divine mysteries, read the prophets, hear the
exhortation of him that presides, and make a collection of alms to be
distributed among the orphans, widows, sick, prisoners, and strangers. He adds
the obscure edict of the emperor Adrian in favor of the Christians. It appears
that this Apology had its desired effect—the quiet of the church. Eusebius
informs us,17 that the same emperor sent into Asia a rescript to the following
purport: "When many governors of provinces had written to my father, he
forbade them (the Christians) to be molested, unless they had offended against
the state. The same answer I gave when consulted before on the same subject. If
any one accuse a person of being a Christian, it is my pleasure that he be
acquitted, and the accuser chastised, according to the rigor of the law."
Orosius and Zonaras tell us, that Antoninus was prevailed upon by the Apology of
Justin to send this order.

He composed his second Apology near twenty years after, in 167, on account of
the martyrdom of one Ptolemy, and two other Christians, whom Urbicus, the
governor of Rome, had put to death. The saint offered it to the emperor Marcus
Aurelius (his colleague Lucius Verus being absent in the East) and to the
senate. He undertakes in it to prove that the Christians were unjustly punished
with death, and shows how much their lives and doctrine surpassed the
philosophers, and that they could never embrace death with so much cheerfulness
and joy, had they been guilty of the crimes laid to their charge. Even Socrates,
notwithstanding the multitude of disciples that followed him, never found one
that died in defence of his doctrine. The apologist added boldly, that he
expected death would be the recompense of his Apology, and that he should fall a
victim to the snares and rage of some or other of the implacable enemies of the
religion for which he pleaded; among whom he named Crescens, a philosopher in
name, but an ignorant man, and a slave to pride and ostentation. His martyrdom,
as he had conjectured, was the recompense of this Apology: it happened soon
after he presented this discourse, and probably was procured by the malice of
those of whom he spoke. The genuine acts seem to have been taken from the
praetor's public register. The relation is as follows:

Justin and others that were with him were apprehended, and brought before
Rusticus, prefect of Rome, who said to Justin, "Obey the gods, and comply
with the edicts of the emperors." Justin answered, "No one can be
justly blamed or condemned for obeying the commands of our Saviour Jesus
Christ."

RUSTICUS-"What kind of literature and discipline do you profess?"

JUSTIN-"I have tried every kind of discipline and learning, but I have
finally embraced the Christian discipline, how little soever esteemed by those
who were led away by error and false opinions."

RUSTICUS- "Wretch, art thou then taken with that discipline?"

JUSTIN-"Doubtless I am, because it affords me the comfort of being in
the right path."

RUSTICUS-"What are the tenets of the Christian religion?"

JUSTIN-"We Christians believe one God, Creator of all things visible and
invisible; and we confess our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, foretold by the
prophets, the Author and Preacher of salvation, and the Judge of mankind."
The prefect inquired in what place the Christians assembled. Justin replied,
"Where they please, and where they can: God is not confined to a place: as
he is invisible, and fills both heaven and earth, he is everywhere adored and
glorified by the faithful."

RUSTICUS-"Tell me where you assemble your disciples."

JUSTIN-"I have lived till this time near the house of one called Martin,
at the Timothin baths. I am come a second time to Rome, and am acquainted with
no other place in the city. If any one came to me, I communicated to him the
doctrine of truth."

RUSTICUS-"You are then a Christian?"

JUSTIN-"Yes, I am."

The judge then put the same question to each of the rest, viz., Chariton, a
man; Charitana, a woman; Evelpistus, a servant of Caesar, by birth a Cappadocian;
Hierax, a Phrygian; Peon, and Liberianus, who all answered, "that, by the
divine mercy, they were Christians." Evelpistus said he had learned the
faith from his parents, but had with great pleasure heard Justin's discourses.

Then the prefect addressed himself again to Justin in this manner: "Hear
you, who are noted for your eloquence, and think you make profession of the
right philosophy, if I cause you to be scourged from head to foot, do you think
you shall go to heaven?"

Justin replied, "If I suffer what you mention, I hope to receive the
reward which those have already received who hare observed the precepts of Jesus
Christ."

Rusticus said, "You imagine then that you shall go to heaven, and be
there rewarded."

The martyr answered, "I do not only imagine it, but I know it; and am so
well assured of it, that I have no reason to make the least doubt of it."

The prefect seeing it was to no purpose to argue, bade them go together and
unanimously sacrifice to the gods, and told them that in case of refusal they
should be tormented without mercy.

Justin replied, "there is nothing which we more earnestly desire than to
endure torments for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; for this is what will
promote our happiness, and give us confidence at his bar, where all men must
appear to be judged." To this the rest assented, adding, "Do quickly
what you are about. We are Christians, and will never sacrifice to idols."

The prefect thereupon ordered them to be scourged and then beheaded, as the
laws directed. The martyrs were forthwith led to the place where criminals were
executed, and there, amidst the praises and thanksgivings which they did not
cease to pour forth to God, were first scourged, and afterwards beheaded. After
their martyrdom, certain Christians carried off their bodies privately, and gave
them an honorable burial. St. Justin is one of the most ancient fathers of the
church who has left us works of any considerable note. Tatian, his disciple,
writes, that, of all men, he was the most worthy of admiration.18 Eusebius, St.
Jerome, St. Epiphanius, Theodoret, &c., bestow on him the highest praises.
He suffered about the year 167, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.
The Greeks honor him on the 1st of June; in Usuard and the Roman Martyrology his
name occurs on the 13th of April.

St. Justin extols the power of divine grace in the virtue of Christians,
among whom many who were then sixty years old, had served God from their infancy
in a state of spotless virginity, having never offended against that virtue, not
only in action, but not even in thought: for our very thoughts are known to
God.19 They could not be defiled with any inordinate love of riches, who threw
their own private revenues into the common stock, sharing it with the poor.20 So
great was their abhorrence of the least wilful untruth, that they were always
ready rather to die than to save their lives by a lie.21 Their fidelity to God
was inviolable, and their constancy in confessing his holy name, and in
observing his law, invincible. "No one," says the saint,22 "can
affright from their duty those who believe in Jesus. In all parts of the earth
we cease not to confess him, though we lose our heads, be crucified, or exposed
to wild beasts. We suffer dungeons, fire, and all manner of torments: the more
we are persecuted, the more faithful and the more pious we become, through the
name of Jesus. Some adore the sun: but no one yet saw any one lay down his life
for that worship; whereas we see men of all nations suffer all things for Jesus
Christ." He often mentions the devotion and fervor of Christians in
glorifying God by their continual homages, and says, that the light of the
gospel being then spread everywhere, there was no nation, either of Greeks or
barbarians, in which prayers and thanksgivings were not offered to the Creator
in the name of the crucified Jesus.23

Endnotes

1 Dial. in initio.

2 Apol. 2, ol. 1, n. 12, p. 96.

3 Haer. 46.

4 Op. p. 1.

5 Ed. Ben. p. 36.

6 Appar. in Bibl. Patr. t. 1, p. 445.

7 N. 7, p. 237.

8 Isaiah viii.

9 Hist. t. 1, p. 463.

10 N. 80, p. 177.

11 N. 85, p. 182, n. 35, p. 133.

12 Apud Origen, 1. 6, c. 133.

13 Hist. l. 4, c. 16, and in Isa.

14 Apol. 1, ol. 2, n. 6, p. 47.

15 See Tillemont, t. 2 p. 521, and Marand, Not. hic.

16 N 66, p. 88. See the notes of the Ben. Ed.

17 Hist. p. 4, c. 13.

18 Apud Eus. l. 4, c. 16.

19 Apol. 1, ol. 2, p. 62.

20 Ib. p. 61.

21 Ib. p. 57, and Dial. cum Tryph.

22 Ib.

23 Dial. p. 345.

(Taken from Vol. 6 of "The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other
Principal Saints" by the Rev. Alban Butler, the 1864 edition published by
D. & J. Sadlier, & Company)